The traditional arts of Ghana rank among the richest in Africa.

To gain a good idea of them, there is nothing better than a visit to the National Museum of Ghana at Accra, where are displyed the most remarkable specimens of wood sculpture, pottery, weawing and jewellery, originating from the country`s and Africa`s various ethnic groups.

Masks and statues; the sense of rites

Statues and masks serve a dual purpose. On the one hand, they have a propitiatory effect on beneficial powers, such as genies, ancestors and a minor deities who act as intermediaries between man and a godhead diffused throughout the universe.

On the other hand, they are also capable of warding off the powers of evil, which hover constanty to cause harm and even to kill. The main difference betweenstatue and mask is that former remains motionless throughout the ceremony, while the latter participates in every phase of the rite, since it is attached to the face of one of the officians-frequently an initiate-whose incognito has to be preserved.

Little by little he absorbs the evil forces inhabiting the place to be purifiered or, instead, accumulates an emotional charge, destined to touch-in both senses of the term-the beneficent divinity.

However, the use of masks is not squally disseminaed in all regions. Its style is stronly impegnated by ecological or social environment in wich it finds itself.